Microsoft’s New Logo

There are times when it may seem like we’re hard on Microsoft, Bing, Messenger, Hotmail, Windows Mobile, and Windows 8. Heck I might have even said something bad about XBox and Office in my years of writing for this blog, I know that both have deserved some flack at some point or another.

Today, after 25 years with the same logo, Microsoft has pulled the company colors together to form a rather simple new logo with what appears to be Windows Mobile Red, XBox Green, Windows Blue, and Office Yellow..

Microsoft

If it looks odd, that’s because I drew it with SVG/CSS vs. just posting up a picture. I have to wonder if having a simple logo is part of Microsoft’s goals for this refresh?

Sure the old logo can be drawn with SVG but you wouldn’t catch me trying it:

While the old logo had no graphic included, the new logo is 2 parts, a Symbol, and a Logotype:

It could be me, but after fiddling with the new logo it’s odd to see the old logo without the Symbol?

Microsoft released a video on YouTube (haha) promoting the new logo:

Jeffrey Meisner also made a blog post about the new logo, the history of the old logo, and how crucial a brand impression is to a business like Microsoft.

Jefferey alludes to the sources of the colors with the following statement:

The symbol’s squares of color are intended to express the company’s diverse portfolio of products.

If I was running a contest between Google’s new default icon : .. and the new Microsoft logo, I’d have to say Microsoft wins in terms of ‘most improved‘, but they did take 25 years to get around to it..